Hi,
Last year, a colleague from the Open University, Dr Vic Pearson, and I ran a pilot project called Rocks from Space, when children from many schools in Stockton (in the north east of England) worked with the Open University and had the opportunity to link with scientists here and internationally. We used the Stockton CLC's VLE (Moodle) as the area for 'work in progress' and it was hugely successful, engaging over 300 children in studying the solar system. Some of you who attended the Moodlemoot at the OU last summer may remember hearing about it as Vic and I made a presentation about it.
We have decided to run it again this year and would really like to extend the number of K-12 schools involved so I suggested to Vic that we post a message here and invite any school in the world to get involved! I'm not sure what we are letting ourselves in for but it would be fantastic if we could connect schools internationally, so if anyone is interested, please read on!
The project will run from February 26th – March 30th but it is completely flexible so that schools can align it to their Schemes of Work if they prefer. Links to UK KS2, KS3 and KS4 Schemes of Work are given, along with the more details of the project, in the brief which can be downloaded from http://vle.stocktonclc.co.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=4139 (click 'Login as a guest). Primary schools are welcome to incorporate this into a cross-curricular project.
Vic is overseeing the project, and has also written a Case Study which can also be downloaded from http://vle.stocktonclc.co.uk/file.php/6/RFS/SpaceSafariOUCaseStudy.pdf (you may need to click on the ‘Login as guest’ button). This explains what happened last year in more detail.
Please get in touch with me (preferably by email) by Friday, 2nd February if you are interested in joining this exciting project. I will then forward you more details about registering your pupils and being able to access all the resources and live sessions.
Oh - and by the way - it won't cost you anything but a bit of time to get your pupils involved!
Best wishes
Val Brooks
Deputy Director,
Stockton City Learning Centre,
Marsh House Ave. ,
Billingham,
Stockton-on-Tees ,
TS23 3QJ
Tel: 01642 371841
Mob: 07870 553028
Fax: 01642 373489